


what's so good about birthdays anyway?

by XingPanda



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, Memory Loss, dmcgenweek, unsolicited poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 07:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20078200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XingPanda/pseuds/XingPanda
Summary: It's Dante and Vergil's birthday but forget about any cake. It's real sad boy hours here, folks!





	what's so good about birthdays anyway?

With Vergil’s return, Dante had had to quickly get used to a lot of things. He wasn’t going to just throw his sort of evil, half reformed twin out on the street, so out of the goodness of his heart Dante had opened up his home to Vergil. Which meant sharing things like the bathroom and the kitchen and the small hidden bookshelf that Vergil had wasted no time in claiming as his own, despite it already being filled with Dante’s frankly impressive collection of latin literature.

It also meant Dante no longer came home to an empty place. 

Usually he would return late at night from a job to find Vergil sitting primly on the couch with a book in his hand. 

So color him surprised when he walked in and saw that not only were the lights off but Vergil was cross-legged on the floor next to the jukebox. Considering that just yesterday Vergil had complained about the lack of cleanliness regarding the floor in Devil May Cry, this was kind of a red flag. Oh and the booze surrounding him. There were an awful lotta bottles near his ever so proper older brother. 

Dante toed aside an empty beer bottle as he walked over.

“Rough day? Was the girl at the bookstore mean to you again? You gotta learn to smile, man.”

Vergil closed his eyes and leaned his head back until it hit the jukebox. “I was with Nero today. I smiled plenty.” As if to prove it, Vergil let out a quiet breath of laughter. “He is so much cooler than us, Dante. I feel like a dumb old man around him.”

Dante squinted at him. He knew from experience that their devil genes made it pretty hard to get drunk but Vergil was being remarkably light lipped.

“Are you drunk?” Dante asked. 

Vergil’s heavy lidded eyes met Dante’s. He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never imbibed in alcohol before. My brain feels...blurry.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen,” Dante snorted. “You’ve really never drank before?”

“Didn’t see any reason to. And I now realize it wouldn’t have helped anyway. I’m still…” Vergil pressed his lips together, his expression grew immediately colder and closed off. Dante could tell that his brother’s mind was still moving a mile a minute, though. It always was. “Nevermind, doesn’t matter...my head hurts.”

“Jesus, Verge,” Dante roughly exhaled as he joined his twin on the floor. He picked up one of the bottles and took a swig. “At least pay for your own shit next time. Did you have to go for my good stuff.”

“It tastes terrible.”

“Yeah, well you also don’t like pizza so maybe all those years in hell fucked up your tastebuds,” Dante said. He held out the bottle to Vergil who took it immediately. 

“Ha, maybe.” The side of Vergil’s mouth crooked up in an almost smile. He took a long drink. “Fucked up a lot of things.”

“Yeah…it really did, huh.” 

The two of them passed the bottle back and forth in silence for a good couple of minutes before Vergil’s soft voice cut through the air.

“It’s our birthday, Dante.”

Dante almost spat out his drink. He did some quick math in his head to determine that it was in fact July 21st. It _ was _ their birthday. He’d forgotten. Which, okay, was not that big of a deal. It honestly might have been better if the day had passed without him knowing. Now he definitely had a reason to drink though. 

Dante hated his birthday. Asking him why would getting you a million different answers, none of them true, but he’d deliver the lie with a smile and wasn’t that what mattered anyway? The truth was too close to his heart and that shit was nobody else’s business. 

One part of the truth: He found it hard to like something that was so intrinsically connected to his dead brother. The fact that Vergil was now alive did not change the years of heartbreak. It didn’t change 9 year old Dante’s horrified realization that this day was now his own and for the first time in his entire life he was spending it completely and absolutely alone. 

Judging by the inebriated state of his twin, Dante had a feeling Vergil wasn’t a big fan of their birthday either.

He had gotten used to anti-celebrating this day by himself. It was strange to have it go back to being a shared thing. He couldn’t help feeling a little warm at the thought. Just a little.

“I didn’t get you anything but I assume you’ve got nothing for me either, so we’re even,” Dante said. “Wait, actually no this is my booze and I’m sharing it so Happy Birthday. I did get you a present, I’m up one.”

“I didn’t remember.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“No, Dante, I didn’t...I couldn’t…” Vergil’s mouth moved like he was trying to shape the words before they left him. “Nero told me earlier. If he hadn’t mentioned it I...I have no recollection of this day being our birthday. I don’t remember ever celebrating it.” Vergil sucked in sudden breath. “He took more than I thought.”

_ He _...Mundus. Vergil must’ve been drunker than he realized if he was willingly bringing up that guy. What a lightweight. Or maybe Dante was just used to drinking and his tolerance had nothing to do with being half-demon. Eh, didn’t matter either way. 

“I don’t think sober you is gonna like where this conversation’s going. Why don’t you drink some water and--”

“...I turn'd to the Garden of Love, That so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be…”

“Or you could quote at me. That’s cool too, I guess.”

“I don’t remember our birthday. That’s so mundane, I...I could be missing any number of things and I can’t even tell that they’re gone,” Vergil said as he abruptly stood. He stumbled slightly but years of training allowed him to steady his body almost immediately. “I can’t tell which is worse, knowing that they’re missing, to always be reaching out for something I’ve lost, or never remembering I lost them in the first place.”

Dante scratched the back of his neck. “Well, ignorance is bliss, right?”

“‘Tis folly to be wise. Thomas Gray,” Vergil completed. “But Mr. Gray’s ignorance did not come from having his memories scooped out like, like...ice cream.” At Dante’s answering snort, Vergil’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “Or something of that ilk, I don’t know, I can’t think very well at the moment. Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you, man. Okay well, I am a little but it’s not uh, malicious or whatever. You’re just funny sometimes.”

“I am hilarious all of the time, Dante. People just don’t notice I’m joking. Might be in the delivery, mother always said I was a true humorist like Samuel Clemens and I think things get lost in--oh would you stop laughing.”

Dante couldn’t help it. It wasn’t just Vergil’s words. There was something about the ease with which he spoke. Vergil almost never spoke this much, hadn’t really since they were kids. It just made Dante feel a little giddy, to see this dorky side of his brother again. And on their goddamn birthday, no less. Dante hadn’t laughed or even smiled on his birthday since before their mom died. 

Dante’s laugher trailed off but he still smiled up at Vergil. “We’re even again.”

“What?”

“You made me laugh so we’re even. Thanks for the birthday present.” Dante got up, stretching his back as he did. “Get me like, a cool knife or something next year though.”

Vergil blinked at him. “Next year.”

“Yup. Same day, better present.” Dante patted Vergil’s back. “Ooh get me like, one of those rainbow ones, that shine when you move ‘em. That’d be awesome. Don’t worry, I’ll get you a dumb book or something.” 

“A book.”

“Yeah, so don’t forget.”

Vergil’s eyes were wide and he smiled incredulously at Dante. “Books aren’t dumb. You like books.”

“Shut up, no I don’t.” Dante reached up to mess up Vergil’s hair as he walked by on his way to the stairs. He was feeling a little too much so he figured it was bedtime. Vergil groaned and Dante didn’t need to turn around to know that Vergil was trying to fix his hair back to the way it was. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I won’t forget,” Vergil called after him. “You won’t one-up me again, Dante.”

Dante stopped for half a second before continuing on his way. “Remember, a knife!”

“I’ll remember.”

And he did. Which is why one year from then, Dante awoke on his birthday to find a skillfully wrapped tome filled with a handwritten and carefully curated poetry collection, each one featuring knives of some sort. 

Eh, close enough, Dante thought as he sat down and began to thumb through the book. At least he remembered.

**Author's Note:**

> The bit that Vergil quotes is from "The Garden of Love" by William Blake ofc
> 
> (also I had this fic saved as "i'm teaching father the birthday" and i forgot i would need a real title until i went to post it aaaaa)


End file.
